The 60. Infanterie-Division was formed on 15 October 1939 in Danzig from the Gruppe Eberhardt, a special formation drawn largely from the Landespolizei of the Free City of Danzig and SA units under Generalleutnant Friedrich-Georg Eberhardt. It initially consisted of the Infanterie-Regiment 92, Infanterie-Regiment 243 and Infanterie-Regiment 244 together with the Artillerie-Regiment 160 and supporting units, and took part in the 1940 campaign in the West as part of the 1. Armee. In the summer of 1940 the division was motorized, redesignated 60. Infanterie-Division (mot.) in August, reduced to two motorized infantry regiments (Infanterie-Regiment 92 and Infanterie-Regiment 120, the latter formed from the former 244), and received additional motorized elements including a Kradschützen-Bataillon and Panzerjäger-Abteilung. After a period of training and service in Romania it participated in the Balkan campaign of April 1941 against Yugoslavia and Greece. Transferred to the Eastern Front for Operation Barbarossa, the division advanced under the 1. Panzergruppe through Uman, crossed the Dnieper, took part in the fighting for Rostov and the subsequent withdrawal to the Mius River, and held defensive positions during the winter of 1941–42. In the spring of 1942 it fought in the Second Battle of Kharkov under Generalleutnant Otto Kohlermann and then advanced during Fall Blau across the Donets and Don toward Stalingrad as part of the XIV. Panzerkorps of the 6. Armee. Assigned to secure the northern corridor between the Don and the Volga, the division played a central role in repelling the Soviet Kotluban offensives of September 1942 and later became heavily engaged in the bitter urban and defensive fighting inside and around Stalingrad. Encircled with the rest of the 6. Armee in November 1942, the 60. Infanterie-Division (mot.) was completely destroyed by February 1943. Its remnants were later used to form the Panzergrenadier-Division Feldherrnhalle in 1943.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Major Karl Willig (1908-1977) was born on 31 August 1908 in Niederneisen in Hessen and entered military service in 1927 as a Fahnenjunker in the Infanterie-Regiment 5, later serving as an officer in the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht. Promoted to Oberleutnant and then to Hauptmann on 1 December 1939, he commanded the 10. Kompanie of the Infanterie-Regiment 15 during the campaigns in Poland and France. From June 1941 he led the 11. Kompanie of the Infanterie-Regiment 120 (later redesignated Grenadier-Regiment 120 (mot.)) of the 60. Infanterie-Division (mot.) on the Eastern Front, distinguishing himself in the fighting around Kharkov in the spring of 1942. As Führer of the II. Bataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 120 he played a key role in the German counter-offensive during the Second Battle of Kharkov; on 17 May 1942 his battalion, operating on the left wing of the regiment, bypassed Soviet resistance nests and stormed the fortified village of Fidlerowo in fierce close combat, relieving the neighbouring 100. Jäger-Division and enabling the continuation of the encirclement of Soviet forces. For this successful combat leadership he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 25 July 1942 as Hauptmann and commander of II./Infanterie-Regiment 120. Promoted to Major on 1 August 1942, he continued to lead the II. Bataillon of Grenadier-Regiment 120 (mot.) during the advance on and fighting inside Stalingrad. After the Soviet encirclement in November 1942 he commanded a Kampfgruppe that defended the key village of Marinowka on the western side of the Stalingrad pocket in a series of hard defensive battles lasting from 28 November 1942 until 10 January 1943. For this prolonged and determined defence under desperate conditions he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 18 January 1943 as Major and Kommandeur of II./Grenadier-Regiment 120 (mot.). Captured at the end of January 1943 when the pocket was liquidated, Willig was one of the few survivors who returned from Soviet captivity in December 1949 and lived thereafter in Germany until his death on 2 December 1977 in Eschwege.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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